


hearts on fire

by AGoodFrog



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern with Bending (Avatar), BTW, Bisexual Disaster Sokka (Avatar), Bisexual Disaster Zuko (Avatar), M/M, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, but izumi knows she's loved and frankly has an abundance of parental figures, in this AU mai is def a good mother, izumi's just living w zuko bc he's better suited for this whole stay-at-home dad kinda thing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:09:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28640535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AGoodFrog/pseuds/AGoodFrog
Summary: So, aware that it’s entirely to preserve his last threads of sanity, Sokka decides that this is, after all, a very normal thing to do. Zuko and Zumi are definitely out of ice now. So. He brought some. Big deal.It’s not like the ice bags are giant arrows, pointing at him, screaming, "look at this fucker and his undying love and devotion for this single father and his daughter". WELL, so, technically, they might be, BUT. Listen. He can’t help himself.alternatively: a decidedly indulgent gilmore girls AU ft. sokka (as luke), zuko (as lorelai) and izumi (as rory)
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 27
Kudos: 65





	1. Chapter 1

Turns out, being the plan guy isn’t always as great as it’s hyped up to be. Or, at least, as Sokka’s hyped it up it up to be. Right now, for example, Sokka could really, really do without being the plan guy for once once in his life. 

Sighing, he readjusts his grip on the two frankly obscenely gigantic bags of ice he’s holding, and wonders, not for the first time, how he ended up like this. 

Not, like, how he ended up carrying bags of frozen water. 

(That much is rather obvious. He’d looked at his shop’s freezer and thought about Izumi’s Sweet 16 and how that’s the first party Zuko’s ever thrown on his own rather than inciting Sokka’s help and. Well, you can never have too much ice, really, and he IS the plan guy after all. Surely, it would be against some kind of cosmic law if he just pretended he _didn’t_ know that Zuko had definitely, without a doubt, not bought enough ice. So, no, he’s not wondering how he ended up carrying half a penguin enclosure’s worth of ice.) 

Rather- How he ended up like this:

Standing on the porch of his best friend/the guy he’s been in love with for… you know what, let’s not count that. 

.. Standing on the porch of the guy he’s been in love with for ages, with two giant bags of ice for the 16th birthday party of the not-so-little girl Sokka had practically adopted on the spot, years ago. 

(He remembers her 5th birthday party. He’d hired a clown. The cops came. It was _awesome_.)

So, aware that it’s entirely to preserve his last threads of sanity, Sokka decides that this is, after all, a very normal thing to do. Zuko and Zumi are definitely out of ice now. So. He brought some. Big deal. 

It’s not like the ice bags are giant arrows, pointing at him, screaming, "look at this fucker and his undying love and devotion for this single father and his daughter". WELL, so, technically, they might be, BUT. Listen. He can’t help himself. 

Deciding that he is just going to think of it in his head as "bros being bros", Sokka braces himself, putting on the largest grin he is capable of at the moment and finally steps out of the shadows to enter the house through the already open front door, exclaiming: 

"Did I hear somebody needs ice!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> chapter 2, in which sokka and zuko are spending a disproportionally* long amount of time standing in the hallway while falling even deeper in love (if that's even possible)
> 
> * disproportinate to whom? who knows? shfdhk i'm on the zuko side of all things maths tbh; plus, in all honesty, who /hasn't/ spent loads of time in hallways falling in love? i sure have

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just wanna say a massive thank you to those that have left comments or kudos, i was really super excited!! thank you sm!! i hope you'll like this chapter (:
> 
> p.s.: sorry to everyone who just read that sentence in harry styles' voice; let's just say i've learned from the best skghskjg

_ Deciding that he is just going to think of it in his head as "bros being bros", Sokka braces himself, putting down the largest grin he is capable of at the moment and finally steps out of the shadows to enter the house through the already open front door, exclaiming:  _

_ “Did I hear somebody needs ice!” _

* * *

Of course, Sokka’s very dramatic  _ don’t-think-just-brag _ entry is immediately thwarted. Honestly, he should’ve known better. As it is, instead of this being at least a vaguely smooth announcement, he is confronted with a warm body colliding with him. Immediately, his hands shoot up to steady the person before him, clasping suspiciously familiar broad shoulders in his hands. 

And, yeah, sure, why not: When he looks down, he’s greeted by an equally familiar set of honey golden eyes, which undoubtedly belong to a vaguely confused Zuko. 

Who, by the way, Sokka notes with a not insubstantial amount of satisfaction, had immediately gone entirely still when Sokka had put his hands on his shoulders. Even though, you know, he seemed to have been in the process of putting on his jacket, judging by the way he’s still standing there, one arm in his leather jacket and one arm hovering in the space between them. Sokka tries not to preen too obviously at this tidbit of knowledge. (Unsurprisingly, he fails miserably.)

Just then Zuko interrupts his inner monologue. 

“Sokka?” he asks, visibly confused, and Sokka feels his chest expand at the sight of his face. “How did you know?” Zuko continues, nodding towards one of the ice bags.

Oh, yeah. The ice bags. No, Sokka hasn’t forgotten about those; that would be ridiculous. Because, you know, he’s the one holding them and they’re quite heavy. Stuff like that. (Except how he totally did. That might not have been the first time Zuko’s eyes have made him forget virtually everything.)

“Oh, these?” Sokka removes his hands from Zuko’s shoulders (which. great idea, Sokka, Zuko’s shirt is now vaguely wet with condensation). 

“Well…”, he starts, gathering up speed for the bullshit that’s supposed to be coming out of his mouth at its earliest convenience. Zuko apparently knows it is, because a soft, indulgent smile is starting to grow on his face, which frankly Does Things to Sokka’s poor, poor heart. It also only serves to spur him on. He never said he wasn’t predictable, okay? 

“I’m listening,” Zuko prompts, deadpan, and Sokka huffs out a laugh before straightening. (Yes, he’s like two beers away from puffing out his chest. Sue him.)

“Well, you know me,” Sokka shrugs in the most casually fake-bragging way he can muster, “plan guy, selfless protector of all that are throwing parties, ice man... You name it, I’m your man.” He can’t quite suppress the wink that comes with his little speech and is  _ absolutely  _ delighted by the little giggle that slips from Zuko’s lips in response. He might be a little tipsy, Sokka guesses, - Zuko is an absolute lightweight -, a fact which is proven by the very next thing that comes out of Zuko’s mouth and may or may not almost give Sokka heart palpilations: 

Zuko is grinning now and Sokka can still see the last remnants of a faint blush, which, yeah. Shit. Sokka will never get tired of making Zuko blush, ever. There’s also a little spark in his eyes which is both achingly familiar and completely unreadable to Sokka. 

“My knight in shining armour,” Zuko comments, smirking, and lets his eyes wander towards Sokka’s - if he may say so - decently strong arms. He’s not exactly the gym kinda guy, but he knows his arms are definitely one of his big selling points. 

This knowledge does absolutely jack-shit though to erase the hot feeling of Zuko’s eyes on them. 

“On the other hand,” Zuko adds after a while, with way too long a pause, seemingly trapped in the moment’s spell just like Sokka is. “I mean, there’s not exactly much armour involved here, is there?” 

His eyes stay trailed on Sokka’s bare arms for just some seconds longer, which feels like entire centuries; moving up to Sokka and meeting his eyes only once for the blink of a moment before quickly resuming their earlier position of making Sokka go batshit insane.

Honestly, Sokka feels exhirilated, but also like any minute, he might combust. 

He is saved, as is usual, by Toph, whose voice is almost as loud as his own heartbeat: “If you two are done flirting now, you might want to bring the ice actually  _ into  _ the kitchen. Before it has  _ melted _ , because it’s  _ ice _ .” She snorts and disappears into the kitchen again. 

Sokka’s eyes meet Zuko’s, who looks about as sheepish as he feels. 

“Oops?” Zuko tries, a shy smile on his lips, his eyes soft. 

“Oops,” Sokka agrees, chuckling, and readjusts his grip on the ice bag for lack of anything to do that doesn’t involve giving in to his enchantment and pressing a soft kiss to Zuko’s lips. 

“Let’s go then,” Zuko tries again. He seems just as unwilling to leave this bubble they’ve just created. (One of many bubbles; a fact which Sokka can’t think about for too long or else he gets overwhelmed by this… this Thing they have and don’t have at the same time). 

This is also why Sokka is wholly unprepared when Zuko suddenly puts a gentle hand on the small of his back to guide him to the kitchen that they’re practically already standing in front of. 

And no, he doesn’t drop the bags at the touch. His grip on them might have slipped for a second, so it’s… a near thing, but! He doesn’t. So. That’s something. Right? 

Right. 

**Author's Note:**

> i haven't written anything in literal y e a r s (figures zukka would convince me to change that), so if you could leave some kudos (or even comments!), it would be greatly appreciated (xx


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